India top court says 1993-2009 coal block awards illegal

India’s top court ruled on Monday that all coal block allocations made by the government between 1993 and 2009 were illegal, throwing the already energy-starved country's power sector into turmoil. The court said there were ‘legal flaws’ in the process of awarding coal blocks in India, which relies on the black fuel for two-thirds of its power generation. The allocation of coal mines has long been beset by allegations of corruption, which came to the fore under the previous Congress government in a scandal dubbed ‘Coalgate’. ‘The allocation of coal blocks (between 1993 and 2009) based on the recommendations made in all the 36 meetings of the (coal block) screening committee is illegal,’ said Supreme Court Chief Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha. ‘There was no transparency and guidelines have seldom guided it (the screening committee),’ the judge said, according to AFP.